Ireland, Day 7

March 30th was out last official day of sightseeing in Ireland.  Our plan was to take it easy as we made our way from Waterford back to Dublin with a few stops in between that Dan wanted to make sure we got to.

 On our way out of Waterford, we saw Reginald's Tower which was built in 1003 as part of the city wall.

We left Waterford and headed to nearby Ardeenlone.  This is where Dan's grandmother on his Dad's side grew up. 
On one of Dan's previous trips to Ireland, one of his distant cousins brought him to see where his Great Uncle grew up and to see the sight of his grandmother's home. 

This is where his great uncle grew up.  And just down the country road is the site of his grandmother's house.  When he was with his cousin (who was many years older than Dan) several years ago, he showed him where the house was.  And all that was left was part of an old shed that was covered in overgrown brush and shrubs.

Here they are at the site of the shed.  That piece of lumber is part of the old shed.

An old car that's still in what's left of the shed.

Dan and the kids went through the brush on the other side of the curve  and actually located some old stone walls that were part of the house.  Dan was very excited by this as he hadn't been able to explore when he was with his cousin.

You can't see them but there are actually walls behind Dan.

After showing the kids their great grandmother's home place, we headed to Newcastle Cemetery where their great great grandparents are buried.

Dan was nervous about being able to find the cemetery so he found GPS coordinates online thanks to a geocaching website and we plugged them in and off we went.

 Here they are in front of the grave.

 The wall behind them is what's left of the old church.

 In view of the cemetery is this stony hill marked with a large cross.

  The view looking down from the hill onto the cemetery and what's left of the abbey.

After we left the old cemetery and abbey we went to the newer one where Dan's grandmother actually went to church.

This is St. Nicholas Church in Ballyduff.  The school she attended is right behind the church. 

We decided to drive through Wexford.  One of the kid's favorite teachers at school is from Wexford.  While in Wexford we stopped to check out Selskar Abbey.

And while waking through Wexford we found this and had to take a picture.  It's spelled with an H, it's pink, and it's an accessories store.  This has MY Sarah written all over it!

After our stop in Wexford we headed to Dublin.  We walked around the Temple Bar area and had dinner. 

 Traditional Shepherd's Pie with veg.

 Traditional Irish Stew with Soda Bread.

Traditional(??) Buffalo Wings.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. 

We flew home the next morning and got back to our regular life.  Dan went to work, Peter went to the Geography Bee, Sarah texted her friends, and I did laundry.  Lots and lots of laundry.

Our time in Ireland was fantastic.  It was better than I dreamed it would be.  I hope the kids have lots of good memories of our time spent together.  But this trip left us all saying, "Where are we going next?"